With cultured meat production increasingly becoming a reality, Israel Hayom has set out to find out whether meat grown in a laboratory would be considered kosher even if the cells that were used for its production originate from swine.
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According to most interpretations of Jewish dietary laws, pigs are not kosher. But since Jewish law does not consider lab-grown meat as originating from a living animal, the normal rules of kosher slaughter might not apply. Also, if it is not considered meat, can it be eaten with dairy products despite the Halachic prohibition?
Rabbi David Stav, the chairman of the Tzohar organization who serves as Shoham's chief rabbi, has studied the ramifications of cultured meat in an attempt to clarify how it may be consumed by observant Jews.
He told Israel Hayom that "there are several key questions" to consider.
The first, he said, was whether "Jewish law permits eating cultured meat despite the fact that the cells were taken from a living animal, one that has not been slaughtered yet." He said that if one assumes it does, "we then have to ask whether such meat, which is not considered as originating from a living animal, would be permissible to grow from non-kosher animals, such as swine."
Opinions on the matter differ, but Stav insists that "despite the fact that the meat was grown in a laboratory, Jewish law considers it proper meat, and it will therefore be forbidden to eat it with dairy.
"Therefore, in such a case, meaning because the meat is defined in Jewish law as actual meat, all laws, except for shechitah, will apply to it, and therefore cultured pork will not be permitted for consumption according to Jewish law."
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